Bud Billiken is a fictional character
that was created by Robert Abbott, the publisher of the Chicago
Defender Newspaper in 1923. Abbott was dining with Lucius Harper
at a Chinese Restaurant while discussing the possibility of having a
youth section in the newspaper. They noticed a figure on a glass,
Billiken, the legendary Guardian Angel of Youth. And so, Bud
Billiken came to be.

In the 1930’s African American youth
throughout the world participated in the Bud Billiken Club each
week. Every week the names of the youth would appear in the Bud
Billiken section of the newspaper. From 1930-1934, approximately
10,000 names appeared and were put in the Harsh Collection in the
Carter G. Woodson Regional Library of Chicago. The collection
includes the city, state, and country of each youth as well as the
date is was published in the newspaper. The names in the collection
were from Canada clear out to Africa.

The Bud Billiken
Parade, however, was not founded until 1929 when David Kellum
appeared. This event was “created to provide a celebration for the
unity in diversity for the children of Chicago.” Now the parade has
grown to the second largest parade in the nation and is televised
around the world.